[pkdpic]

This is definitely a refreshing / important perspective to hear. It's one I haven't actually heard yet from any other practicing artists and it makes me feel a little better / less hopeless about my friends who are dumping money into minting fees.

> they have helped a lot of artists survive the pandemic

Not an attempt to call-out or anything but just curious roughly how many artists you personally know that fall into this category.

[shimmeringleaf]

So, I know personally about 5-7 artists (closer circle), who have managed to pull through thanks to being able to sell works via NFTs (as all normal income sources like exhibitions and events got shuttered by the repeated lockdowns). I'm only counting artists who are full-time artists here, btw, and who don't have a day-job/other revenue streams, there are a lot more of them and and since it's a lot harder to gauge the impact NFTs there I'm not going to count them.

No-one's gotten rich, heh, but they've managed to keep paying rent and keep making art, which is what I think is the most important for them (and for those who love their work).

As I mentioned in another comment in this thread, there are platforms where minting fees are a lot lower, the crucial bit that rarely gets talked about is that minting into the void without a community and visibility will most likely not get you very far. Building a community around your art is the key bit, then naturally some people will want to collect or support you if you offer different ways to do so. NFTs are by themselves no solution to anything if the same bits you need to survive in the traditional art market aren't there at all either.